How do you guys deal with ticks on your critters? Have you ever had ticks get on you while youre skinning out an animal? My boss gave me a big roadkill buck mink this morning. It was pretty fresh still and after a couple hours ticks of every shape and size started crawling out of the fur. I mean there are ticks everywhere on this dude. Every size from pin head sized to fully gorged adults. I'm gonna skin him out and tan him but how can I avoid the ticks?

Its always interesting to see how slightly different climatic areas will make a big difference when it comes to bugs. I've seen tick scars on mink but never any live critters. In fact, I don't think I've seen a tick, live or dead, on any furbearer animal I trapped. Just like I've never seen a tick on a deer in November around here whereas my friend from sw MO sent me a WT buck head/cape he shot with his bow just before gun season one year and it had lots of dead ticks on it. The only bugs I've had to deal with on fur critters have been fleas on k-9s and some sort of slough "lice" on a few open water mrats.

_________________"And God said, Let us make man in our image …and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, …the fowl of the air…and all the creatures that move along the ground. Genesis 1:26

I use a plastic garbage bag, with common Raid spray. I first lightly mist the whole animal, then put it in the bag, and fog it with the spray for a short bit, then close it up air tight. Let it set for 15-20 minutes. The thing I warn people about with Raid though, is its a bit on the oily side. I wash every pelt, so it dont matter to me, but if you dont wash it might be a problem. I have to mention, my late friend who's name was Fuzz here on WAT, taught me this. Ive used it every since. Miss you Garnett...

First fox I trapped went into a garbage bag and in the freezer, as I didn't have time to deal with it at that time. A week later, I took it out to thaw in my brothers fur shed. About ten or twelve frozen, blood filled ticks bounced across the floor when I went to fold the bag. What really surprised me were the number of fleas that started crawling around as the carcass warmed up. Had to spray the critter to get rid of them. A week at ten below and those fleas survived. Tough rascals. Most flea bitten critters we ever caught were Kit Fox. Suppose it was because of all the time they stayed in dens to avoid the coyotes.

First fox I trapped went into a garbage bag and in the freezer, as I didn't have time to deal with it at that time. A week later, I took it out to thaw in my brothers fur shed. About ten or twelve frozen, blood filled ticks bounced across the floor when I went to fold the bag. What really surprised me were the number of fleas that started crawling around as the carcass warmed up. Had to spray the critter to get rid of them. A week at ten below and those fleas survived. Tough rascals. Most flea bitten critters we ever caught were Kit Fox. Suppose it was because of all the time they stayed in dens to avoid the coyotes.